If the predictions were always right and the favorites always won, the quartet of Alabama, Texas A&M, Texas and Oklahoma -- stars of what were supposed to be by far the two biggest games of Week 6 -- would be a combined 18-2 right now.
Instead, though Bama is 5-0 for the seventh straight year, the other three teams are 3-2 and unranked. And all four teams are battling through quarterback injury issues.
There are therefore two ways to look at Week 6. The pessimist would bemoan the fact that the two huge matchups we talked about all offseason are dampened significantly. But I'm an optimist, and I'm looking at this with two thoughts: First, OU vs. Texas and Nick Saban vs. Jimbo Fisher will always be must-watch television regardless. Second, into the headliner void has stepped a trio of optimistic and delightful matchups. We still get all the intensity of the games we expected to care about, and other matchups have taken on a lot more meaning.
I mean, College GameDay is in Lawrence, for goodness' sake! We're starting a Friday preview column with Kansas! How bad can things really be?
Here's everything you need to follow in the weekend ahead.
Cinderella vs. the Big 12's fastest team
No. 17 TCU at No. 19 Kansas (noon ET, FS1)
The only way you could have convinced me that TCU-Kansas would be a battle of unbeatens this year is if the game had been moved to Week 0. TCU went 5-7 last season thanks to a suddenly dreadful defense, and legendary head coach Gary Patterson was sent packing. Kansas, meanwhile, is Kansas, winner of 1.9 games per year since 2010. The Jayhawks went 5-28 from 2019 to 2021 and are 5-0 this season. Impossible!